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What would be a good source for....

Anybody know what a good source of jazz scales and chords would be. With Gary's big band add on I want to know how to use some of these sounds. I'm actually getting a steady stream of local commercial work now and I think that this library is the obvious next step for me. Especially for light-hearted stuff. I also hope that some of you jazz experts will be nice enough to place some demos with scores on this forum. Come on, you know you want to. And finally, I was wondering Gary, if you would be willing to give a discount for GPO users who want to buy the big band add-on. I was thinking that for Styxx, well....he can pay full price but like for me it would only cost...hmm...uh....maybe like...$5. Lol. Just kidding. Unless of course you would consider it. See you all after my real job this afternoon.

Re: What would be a good source for....

I was thinking that for Styxx,

But I already won the lib when I was 44,000 poster so you'll have to pay full price plus and extra $100 for tax, license and insurance. Plus, there is an extra $170 for the additional 100,000 opening, composing, and saving to disc fees that cover anything that may happen in the event that the lib doesn't function properly except if all the members of the jazz band are drunk out of their minds!

Re: What would be a good source for....

"The Jazz Theory Book" by Mark Levine is an excellent resource that has just about everything you'll need.

Also his "The Jazz Piano Book" will fill in some other details, especially when it comes to chord voicings.

Those books are great for understanding the pure theory... When it comes to instrumentation and arranging (which is just as important, if not more, for capturing the flavor of jazz), here are some great books to check out:

"Inside the Score" by Rayburn Wright
"The Professional Arranger Composer" by Russell Garcia
and the arranging books by Sammy Nestico and Don Sebesky

I have a little handbook by William Russo called "composing for the jazz ensemble" which packs a lot of great information into a little book. I would use it as a supplement, but not a main resource for learning.

There's a book called "More than Just a Fake book" with scores and manuscripts and rough drafts of Mingus works.

There's another similar one with Gil Evans scores, which I think is just called "The Gil Evans Collection"

Most importantly, study standards... Listen and follow along with lead sheets, play through them, study how one chord flows to another, find patterns in how certain alterations are used (#11, b13, etc). Buy some fake books and go to town!

These books will help you capture the jazz "flavor" -- as in, things that "sound jazzy" because of the chords, rhythms, instrumentation, feel, voicings, etc. Ultimately, what makes jazz jazz is the improvisation, the spontanaeity, the live performance aspect of it...

Re: What would be a good source for....

Thanks so much everyone. Joseph, youre right. But you cant ever have too many toys. And besides, $900 is chump change.....er....to someone.....somewhere....whose name isnt Eric Watkins. Styxx, I'm thinking that maybe the drunk jazz musicians would be cheaper. Do you know any? Or even sober ones and I can make the rest happen. Lol. Thanks everyone for the resources.